Washington, D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital announced on July 18 that it will discontinue the gender-transition medical care it has been providing for juvenile patients for about 20 years beginning Aug. 30.
In a statement posted on its website, the highly acclaimed pediatric hospital stated, “In light of escalating legal and regulatory risks to Children’s National, our providers, and the families we serve, we will be discontinuing the prescription of gender-affirming medications.”
The statement adds, “Mental health and other support services for LGBT patients remain available. You are always welcome at Children’s National for your medical needs.”
It also states, “We know this change will have a significant impact on affected patients, families and staff. Our care teams are working directly with families of current patients to support them.”
The D.C. hospital’s action is the latest in similar decisions by hospitals and medical facilities to discontinue transgender care for juvenile patients across the country following the adoption by the Trump administration of a series of anti-transgender policies and executive orders.
The U.S. Justice Department recently announced it had issued subpoenas to about 20 doctors and medical facilities that have provided gender-transition care to determine whether they were in violation of the administration’s order banning transition care for juveniles.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately reach a spokesperson for Children’s National Hospital to confirm whether the hospital’s end to gender-transition care was adopted in response to the Trump administration policies.
The Washington Post reported that a hospital spokeswoman, which it did not identify by name, declined to say whether Children’s National or any of its providers were among those that received one of the Justice Department’s subpoenas. The Post reports that the spokeswoman also declined to say how many patients will be affected by the decision to stop transition care.
Also on its website, Children’s National states that its longstanding Gender Development Program has not and currently does not provide gender-transition surgery for youth under the age of 18. It says the policy also calls for not providing hormone therapy for children prior to the onset of puberty.
In its article on Children’s National Hospital’s decision to end gender transition care, the Washington Post quotes the mother of a transgender college student who told the Post her son received gender-transition care at Children’s National beginning in 2018.
“The hospital is a vital resource, and I would never want anything to put that in jeopardy,” the mother, Mary Raibman, told the Post. But she added that if the hospital continued to offer this care, “I don’t think they would have to close. I believe they’re choosing not to stand up and fight,” the Post quoted her as saying. “This decision is really disgusting,” she told the Post.
Ben Takai, president of the board of Metro D.C. PFLAG, told the Blade that the D.C.-area PFLAG chapter and PFLAG National are providing information to parents of transgender children who may be at risk of losing access to services at Children’s National in D.C. and other facilities that no longer provide gender-transition care.
“PFLAG specifically has resources that we can connect people to that, if they don’t exactly provide those services, they can better direct these parents, these families, these youth on where they can go to access those services,” Takai said.
“But the advice I would give is to connect with organizations like PFLAG, with existing organizations that have been established for many years,” he told the Blade. “Because we know adversity. But we also know the grassroots efforts that are in place to connect people to these much needed and necessary services.”
Takai said he would welcome inquiries from those who may need information regarding gender-transition services. He can be reached at
Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.
